RFC Provenance Data Model

[Laurent Michel]

Dear Harry,

Thank you for your comments and suggestions.

As we are in RFC period, the comments of the VO members must be reported on the RFC page

     https://wiki.ivoa.net/twiki/bin/view/IVOA/ProvenanceRFC2

If you are not comfortable with the Wiki, I can copy myself and on your behalf your message there. Just tell me.

Best regards

LM (DM chair)

Le 21/08/2019 à 18:45, Harry Enke a écrit :
> Dears,
> while reading the document, I ran into a couple of statements, which seem unclear or misguiding, so here's my 2c:
> 
> Intro,para2: (p1.)
> "The provenance of scientific data is a part of the open publishing policy for science data and follows some of the FAIR 
> principles for data sharing."
> 
> I suggest to substitute this sentence with:
> "Provenance of scientific data is one components of the FAIR principles:  "(4.3) Published data should refer to their sources 
> with rich enough metatdata and provenance to enable proper citation". (Force11, FAIR Principles)
> This provenance model goes beyond the FAIR principles, its intent is to make the generation of astronomical data accessible. "
> 
> => This sentence is confusing and slightly misleading: there is no "open publishing policy", because policies require a body 
> which gives this policy to itself and
> implements some enforcement measures. And why not pointing to the direct reference in  FAIR ? It's good we have some.
> 
> 
> "In astronomy, such entities are generally datasets composed of VOTables, FITS files, database tables or files containing values 
> (spectra, light curves), any value, logs, documents, as well as physical objects such as instruments, detectors or photographic 
> plates."
> 
> I suggest to clarify:
> "In astronomy, such entities are generally datasets composed of VOTables, FITS files, database tables or files containing values 
> (spectra, light curves), any value, logs, documents, as well as descriptions of physical objects such as instruments, detectors 
> or photographic plates, or information about software."
> 
> => (see paragraph above: 'information about...)
> a) not the machinery itself, but the description can be included as provenance information
> b) I think that software (even though it's not explicitly addressed) also could have provenance information
> 
> 
> "General Remarks:" (p8)
> "Another important usage of provenance information is to assess the pertinence of a product for scientific objectives, which can 
> be facilitated through the selection of the relevant provenance information attached to an entity that is delivered to a science 
> user."
> I suggest:
> "Provenance information delivers additional information about the scientific data set to enable the scientist to evaluate its 
> relevance for his work. "
> 
> => This is hard to understand,if one substitutes "pertinence" with
> "relevance" (because they are synonyms) you get a kind of tautology
> (relevance of a product => select relevant provenance information)
> 
> 
> Best Practices: (p.9)
> "The following additional points are recommended when managing provenance information within the VO context:"
> should be
> "The following additional points are recommended when providing provenance information within the VO context:"
> 
> => since all following statements are clearly for providers of provenance infomation
> 
>   13. Role ...   (p. 10)
> "The IVOA Provenance Data Model is structuring and adding metadata to
> trace the original process followed during the data production for providing astronomical data. "
> should read:
> "The IVOA Provenance Data Model is structuring and adding metadata to
> trace the processes of the data production for providing astronomical data."
> 
> =>It's neither reasonable nor required to restrict the provenance to 'original processes'.
> 
> Best ,
> Harry Enke
> 
> 

-- 
jesuischarlie/Tunis/Paris/Bruxelles/Berlin

Laurent Michel
SSC XMM-Newton
Tél : +33 (0)3 68 85 24 37
Fax : +33 (0)3 )3 68 85 24 32
Université de Strasbourg <http://www.unistra.fr>
Observatoire Astronomique
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